“They used their privilege to deny a film on the basis of what they valued in the world.”
Director Ava DuVernay and actor David Oyelowo recently recalled a time when members from the Oscars' governing body threatened not to vote for their filmafter the cast wore"I Can't Breathe" T-shirts to the premiere as an homage to Eric Garner, a victim of police brutality.
In an interview, Oyelowo said members of the Academy complained to their studio and producers, and DuVernay confirmed the events with a tweet.The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the governing body of the Oscars, actively tried to shut outfrom nominations after the film's cast members and crew wore T-shirts honoring Eric Garner, a victim of police brutality, at the premiere, according to star David Oyelowo and director Ava DuVernay.
The film, which focused on Martin Luther King Jr.'s march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, debuted in December 2014—five months afterfrom being forcefully choked by police in New York. In the video of his struggle with authorities, he repeatedly tells the officers,"I can't breathe," which became a rallying cry in the Black Lives Matter Movement, much like it is again now, six years later, following the police killing of George Floyd.
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